The Thing About Jellyfish

Genre: Fiction, YA

I gave this book ****

This is the story of 12-year-old Suzy who, during the summer after 6th grade, loses her best friend, Franny, in a drowning accident. Franny and Suzy, best friends since 1st grade, start drifting apart in the beginning of 6th grade. One is more quirky and academic and the other more boy-crazy and interested in fashion. Suzy wants so badly to have an explanation for her best friend’s drowning, that she concocts a very clever explanation for this and it has to do with jellyfish. That is the only thing, in Suzy’s mind, that could explain this loss that she feels so deeply. It is this urge to prove her theory, that will eventually help her look past this pain and open her eyes to the possibilities that the future holds.

This is another book for the younger crowd that I enjoyed. What a sweet, well-written, lovely story of friendship and growing up. What I love most is that Benjamin gives respect to both girl characters, both of whom do some unkind and odd things to each other. But through story-telling, we realize that in growing up, there is no evil. There is just humanity and trying to figure out who we are and where we belong. It’s a great read for girls and boys learning to figure it all out themselves. My 11-year-old son is reading it now and the publisher recommends ages 9 to 12.